Spinlock clutches

I have just purchased an Achilles 24 having lost a Hurley 22 to a broken mooring and the presence of some big rocks.

I have a question regarding the location of rope clutches on the cabin roof. My Achilles, Emily, is 1975 and has the original equipment, winches with cleats to tie off. I would like to run the controls and halyards through spin lock clutches or equivalents so that I can use slab reefing back in the cockpit and to make sail handling easier and to make most use of the winches. I would also like to use deck organisers to run the sheets back. Are there any problems with placement of deck organisers and also clutches? Is the deck strong enough in front of the winches to just bolt these through onto a support plate on the underside of the deck?

All help for an Achilles beginner welcomed. Having sailed her I can see why everyone likes them.

busy home [deleted] says:

Have a look at my photo s of inside roof , Yes there is plenty of strength in most of it. One problem is ingress of rainwater into balsa sandwich via unsealed previous fittings .This water cannot get out again . Do not cut the moulding where the spray hood would attach this would be a water trap. I will try to post some pics of Chilles and Goskars layout .(single line reefing seldom works but I may attempt it on goskar)
Welcome to the site Hope we can help .
ages ago
(permalink)

Chille Pepper, any pics of layout would be very useful in helping with placement. I also have the original roller reef main and I mean original! I would like to use a new main with slab reefing and intend to put a twin gooseneck hook at the front of the original boom and use reefing lines for the 2 reefs. I can't remember the boat number but it is 540ish, will know next time I set the main. Do these roller booms cause any problems other than not being able to set a kicker when reefed? Just seems to be a bit of a pain hoisting as you need two hands.
ages ago
(permalink)

I have found that once I freed off the rotation mechanism there were no problems. Don't roll the mainsail too tight since the battens do not always lie along the boom and are then bent when stowed. I have also found that there is a technique which you will get used to for lowering the mainsail. Getting the angle of boom right so that the sail does not bunch up at the gooseneck.
I don't like using the hooks at the gooseneck since the cringle can drop out before you get halyard tension. I have been using a hook with a locking device to prevent this, but am thinking of using a link with a screw as you would use to join a chain together. I have fitted a couple of stainless loops on either side of the boom for each reefing point. The reefing line goes from one loop upto the cringle and back down to a shackle attached to the loop on the other side. the line then goes forward to a cleat attached to the boom near to the kicker attachment point. This arrangement works fine.
I have fitted jammers to my achilles. They will just fit between the winches and the raised portion of the deck. I had to fit spacers to get the right height.. These have been successful. I will try to take some close up photos for you. I did not fit organisers but repositioned the cheek blocks on the deck, being careful to seal all holes.
Originally posted ages ago.
(permalink)
NormanKlipspringer (a group admin) edited this topic ages ago.

Norman24
Does this mean you use the roller reefing to put the sail away and reefing points to reef when sailing and keep the kicker active? Sounds a good idea and I like the idea of the stainless strop as this will be secure. Do you need to specify a boom roller when you order a new sail or will any cut still roll OK? Assume you do need parallel battens! Does it still roll away OK with the extra reefing cringles?

Neil,
Yes - roller to put the sail away and slab reefing on the go to keep kicker active. I have no experience of claw reefing. I got my sail from Crusader. I specified the pattern number I got off the mast and the boom (same number) and everything fitted fine. Still rolls ok with extra reefing cringles and associated ropes. I remove the hook at the mast end of the boom when not reefed, since I found that this fouled the mast when turning the boom. I keep the hook on a loop on the bottom of the mast for when it is needed.
Norman
ages ago
(permalink)

Many thanks to everyone that has responded, now pretty clear what to do over winter and looking forward to the new season. Pictures clearly tell a story better than words! Guess I will be giving crudaser a call for a new main.